Fabrics are manufactured for several different end uses, including for sheeting, towels, terry fabrics, cleaning products, carpets and the like. Terry fabrics are considered advantageous in view of their light weight, softness, ability to pick up particles and absorb moisture. In cases where terry fabrics manufacturing methods are used to manufacture towels or other terry textiles, there is a growing need for improving moisture absorption and reducing drying time while enabling manufacture of fabrics with a pleasant aesthetic look and feel.
FIG. 1A illustrates a terry fabric 100 of the towel type, having a surface region 102. Terry fabrics of the kind illustrated in FIG. 1A typically comprise a woven ground fabric having a plurality of substantially parallel ground warp yarns, and a plurality of substantially parallel ground weft yarns—wherein the plurality of ground weft yarns intersect the plurality of ground warp yarns substantially perpendicularly. Additionally, a plurality of terry loop yarns are woven through the ground fabric in a terry loop weave—which terry loop weave forms a plurality of terry loops above and/or below the woven ground fabric.
FIG. 1B provides a magnified view of surface region 102 of terry fabric 100. Surface region 102 illustrates the woven ground fabric comprising a plurality of warp yarns 104a to 104c, substantially perpendicular weft yarns 106a to 106c, and terry loop yarns woven in a terry loop weave so as to form terry loops 108a to 108c raised above the ground fabric. While not illustrated in FIG. 1B, it would be understood that a terry fabric may include terry loops on both sides of the ground fabric.
In manufacturing terry fabrics, properties such as porosity and increased softness and loft are considered advantages. A previously known approach to achieve these properties has been to weave the terry fabric using at least one yarn (preferably a terry loop yarn) comprising a cotton yarn and a water soluble synthetic thermoplastic yarn (or a single yarn comprising a blend of cotton and water soluble fibers or slivers), which fabric is thereafter washed in water to dissolve the water soluble synthetic yarn or fibers—resulting in a fabric where at least one yarn has interspaces or pores therewithin—which interspaces or pores are formed by the action of dissolving the water soluble yarn. Dissolution of water soluble fibres is an expensive process and release of industrial discharge of such water soluble fibres may pose hazardous effect on the environment.
Another conventional approach is to manufacture fabrics by way of dissolution of wools blends—since wool is known to be soluble when treated with alkali solutions. It has been observed that such approaches result in wastage of materials.
The present invention seeks to manufacture fabrics having interspaces or pores within at least one yarn of said fabric, wherein such yarn or the entire fabric has been subjected to processes that overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and improve porosity, absorbability, wettability, softness and loft of the yarn or resulting fabric.